


Danganronpa: Peko Pekoyama versus the World Destroyer

by TheRareHunterH



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27520024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRareHunterH/pseuds/TheRareHunterH
Summary: We all know what happened when Nagito Komaeda faced off against the World Destroyer, but what about Peko Pekoyama?[finished!]
Relationships: Kuzuryu Fuyuhiko/Pekoyama Peko
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Danganronpa: Peko Pekoyama versus the World Destroyer

**Author's Note:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS: depression, strong language, death, mild blood, spoilers for SDR2/DR3 (anime)

Peko stood with Young Master in a stranded class room. She had followed his orders with precise loyalty, as she always did, making sure no one had seen her slip away to meet him. But her mind went blank upon hearing his most recent request. “You understand? As far as anyone knows, we don’t know each other. You and I have never met.”

Her brain was electrified with the effort of visualizing his request in the context everything she’d ever done for them, but nothing fit. Not the endless times she posed as a decoy for him, that she stood by his side to bully a dangerous adversary, nor that she swung her sword for his protection. Given everything she’d ever done for him, she should’ve resented being abandoned like a splintered bokken. But she could never hate him, because a tool doesn’t have feelings.

With no response from Peko, he furrowed his brow. “Look, I need you to tell me that you understand. I can’t just leave you alone until you say it.”

Peko didn’t know what to do on her own. The pain in her chest told her she wanted to burden Young Master to figure it out for her, but that would be selfish. “Yes, I understand.”

“Good. And don’t come crawling back to me in the middle of the semester, either. I’ll be fine. We’ll both be.” Young Master turned away from Peko sharply, as if turning to strike an enemy. But all he did was walk away from her.

Peko stood in place with the unfamiliar sensation of having no orders to guide her. It was like being in someone else’s body – she had a general understanding of how things worked, but could only clumsily guess at how to adapt that knowledge to a body with no chains.

Knowing she would need to return to her dorm room eventually, her feet plodded in that direction. Her vision strained as she scanned the school grounds for a more deliberate direction to go in than where she was heading now. Her eyes flitted among the random couples that occasionally clustered together among the many students. Even in her numbness, she still felt a twinge of guilt from her fixation on them. She sighed.

Peko came across a wide cherry blossom tree, and she watched its petals float down to the glassy lake below. If those petals could find purpose in letting the wind take them where it pleased, then maybe she could, too. Peko’s stiff figure floated downhill to the lake’s shore.

She lowered herself onto her knees, seiza-style, and stared back over the petal-flecked lake, waiting for her blade-sharp awareness to take over. When her attention didn’t latch like she expected, her hand floated to her braids. She felt them, lump-by-lump, trying to make herself more present. Her chest was tight; she must be nervous.

She looked for the tree’s branches, having to search more thoroughly than usual before she could make out their form between the pale white petals. She honed in on one flower, and then she saw a stem – the absence of a petal. Her eyes roved between a fluttering petal shower before her locating the rogue flower. She could not identify its destination until it had already landed on the water, sending out a delicate ripple around it. Peko feared her senses were becoming dull.

Already having failed, she spent no more time with the tree. She left the shelter of its branches and made her way back to the dorms.

___

Peko awoke to a dark room. The beginnings of a headache and the heavy weight on her body told her that sleep had not restored her senses. To the Peko that had served Young Master, this lethargy would have been nothing. But to an abandoned tool, it could have kept her in bed forever.

It was early, but Peko decided she would just leave, probably to her homeroom classroom.

She ran her fingers along the side of the bed. She was barely able to focus on her objective of locating her schoolbag. Its straps entered her hand, and she tossed it against the door with a loud ‘thunk.’ She dragged herself to the bathroom to get ready before her willpower fizzled out entirely.

___

Peko listened to the quiet tapping of her feet echoing around in the school building. She had barely been awake for an hour, but every second that crawled by made her head feel worse. She couldn’t study in this state, but it was far better to be here than trapped in a dark room with her thoughts. 

As she entered the narrow stairwell, the tapping of her feet bounced all around her ears, becoming even more migraine-inducing. She emerged to the second floor and stopped dead in her tracks. The floor was filled with students walking around, as if they had somewhere to be. It was like entering an alternate dimension. Peko couldn’t make sense of it. 

She entered the stream of students and followed its flow to her classroom. Her gaze stayed on their heels, because looking at their faces made her head spin. Her headache was so bad that she couldn’t focus on anyone’s features.

Peko almost passed by her classroom, but was cued in by a tree that sits very near to the window across from it. She slid open the door and then quickly shut it behind her. She realized she was holding her breath, and she let out a very slow exhale, hoping it would regulate the now-pounding pain in her head. Or at least give her the strength to endure it.

Peko got to her desk and threw her bag down before taking a seat. She was thinking she’d be able to count on several minutes of silence, but the classroom door slid back open. There was a gasp. Peko’s whole body tensed, and she reverted to her lifelong habit of listening for cues of danger, but only heard modest footfalls. She turned to see her classmate, Mahiru.

Mahiru looked at Peko as she drifted over to her desk. “Ah, Peko! You scared me! It’s a little early to be hitting the books, isn’t it?”

Peko smiled. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“No… but I do need to study for that test. Actually, I came in to get some pics! I used to do this all the time at my old school, and I’ve been meaning to do it here. Luckily, my seat’s at the window, but it takes all my willpower to not whip out my camera in the middle of class. Sometimes, the grounds just get so picturesque with all the students milling around.”

Peko nodded. “I’m sure the teachers appreciate your restraint. Although, you wouldn’t be the first to cause a disruption. I’ve had to talk Akane out of fights during P.E., and those aren’t nearly as constructive as your photographs.”

“I see. Peko, you’re always so reliable! That’s something I really admire about you. And I’m kind of flattered that you’ve paid attention to my talent. We’re all classmates here, but none of us talk all that much.”

Peko looked down at the shiny surface of her desk. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know what to say. I don’t mean to be standoffish.”

Mahiru waved her hand. “Oh, no, no, no! That’s not what I meant. You’re just stoic, you know? You and your talent command respect. But you know that guy, Kuzuryu? He’s got a bad attitude. I mean, it’s great that he always shows up, especially because half our class doesn’t. But if he’s gonna be here anyway, then he should at least try to be a little more pleasant.”

Peko’s hand floated to her braid to twirl it around her finger. She resented her own girly gesture. “Y-… Fuyuhiko is under a lot of pressure.”

“I didn’t know you two talked. But then again, I guess it’s obvious, given his position in society.” A beam of red morning sun entered the classroom, and Mahiru looked over to the window. “Oh hey, the sun’s finally up! Guess I’d better get those shots in.” 

Mahiru filtered through her bag and pulled out her camera, fiddling with the adjustments before pointing it outside. She tilted and swayed her body, bending her knees or stretching her body upwards as the camera clicked several times in succession. Peko watched her do this from several positions along the wall. Then, Mahiru climbed onto a desk to get a shot from a particularly high angle. Peko resisted the urge to go over and hold out her arms out in case Mahiru fell. She assumed and hoped the trained photographer knew what she was doing.

Once finished, Mahiru came back over to Peko. “Ah, that was fun! Those are my kind of calisthenics! But I’m a little surprised we’re still the only ones here.”

Peko laughed. “You might be the only one worried about that test, if everyone else is being so lackadaisical.”

“Hmmm, I guess… Hey, Peko! Would you mind if I got a quick pic of you?”

“Huh?”

“Please? When we were talking earlier, I was kind of admiring what a natural beauty you are, and I thought you’d look great with a backdrop of the morning sky.”

Peko didn’t want to, but she had no reason to refuse. “I guess so.”

She stood up, and her sudden vertigo reminded her of her headache. Walking over to the window was like walking underwater. Once there, she leaned against the cold windowsill, and Mahiru took her time moving and angling again, and only took one picture this time. Mahiru flipped the camera and reviewed her handiwork in the digital display. “It looks great! Come see!”

Peko joined Mahiru’s side, and gasped. The photo definitely contained something with the visage of Peko, school uniform and all, but whatever was staring back at them didn’t have a face. Peko knew this must be a joke and was about to ask how Mahiru had altered the photo so quickly.

Mahiru nudged the camera in Peko’s direction. “Does it look okay? I thought the pale blue morning sky would look really nice with your features, especially your hair. But if it’s a problem, I can delete it-“

“No, it’s great! Please feel free to keep it, if you like.”

“O-okay! Well, I really like this, and I was thinking I could maybe get some shots with our other classmates.”

The classroom door slid open and shut with a louder bang than usual. Peko turned and saw Young Master go to his desk and throw down his bag, not even looking in Peko and Mahiru’s direction. Mahiru sighed and went over to her own desk. She exchanged her camera with a book from inside her bag, then opened it on her desk and began reading.

  
___

Sauntering away from the line of students waiting to purchase their meals, Peko thumbed the edge of her lunchbox. She’d ended up in the cafeteria because it was the only thing she knew to do during this time between classes. 

Unable to tolerate being enclosed in a room with her peers, she made her way outside to get some fresh air. With every step, she willed herself toward the idea of eating some rice. Perhaps it could alleviate this nauseating headache, but her stomach turned as she thought about the richer ingredients that also lurked inside. 

She’d made it partway through her aimless wandering when her feet—and heart—stopped. A familiar flash of blonde entered her peripheral view. It wasn’t from one blonde head, but two. Several feet away, standing in a courtyard, Young Master was talking to a girl about his age. She was slightly taller than him, with a confident posture that lit up her eyes with beauty, and perhaps even some ferocity.

A prickly pain knotted in Peko’s chest as she felt an intensity of anger that she’d never known before, even when facing her—or rather, Young Master’s—greatest enemies. Out of habit, she prepared to drop everything in her hands so she could reach for the bamboo sword she was used to carrying with her. It was gone, and then she was stricken with guilt; she never should’ve thought to harm this girl in the first place.

Peko needed to leave. But before she could, her eyes flitted directly to Young Master’s face. From his expression, he didn’t seem to mind having the blonde girl around.

  
___

Peko threw away her untouched lunchbox in a garbage can as she entered the building for her next class. She felt so numb that the thought of food didn’t make her ill anymore, but she didn’t want it anyway.

The door slammed behind her, and she flinched. Since she’d entered from a side door, the hallway was completely empty. She exhaled deeply, reveling in the absence of people, but knowing that she’d be dealing with them again.

Her feet clicked against the floor as the sight of students’ sports awards, locked in a cabinet display at the other end of the hall, grew larger in her view. Peko prepared to turn the corner when a high-pitched sound skidded into her ears. Another student rounded the corner at the same time, and Peko threw up her hands in anticipation of an impact that never came.

The student flinched and wrinkled her nose. “I swear, these hallways aren’t big enough. It’s because they keep cramming shit like this in here.” She rolled her eyes towards the award display.

Peko could barely hear her own voice when she spoke. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

“Oh hey, I bet some of these are yours! At least, Fuyu thinks you’re pretty talented. When I’m in a good mood, I guess I’d agree.”

“… Fuyuhiko?”

“Yeah. D’you hit your head or something?”

Young Master wouldn’t be thrilled about this random girl associating Peko with him. Peko squinted her eyes, and the blonde visage from earlier materialized as a perfect match with the girl standing in front of her. She was the one talking to Young Master.

Before anything could come of this confrontation, Peko stepped to move past the girl.

The girl blocked Peko’s path and leaned in. “Nuh-uh. There’s something weird going on between you and Fuyu, and you’re gonna tell me what it is.”

Peko growled, “Move. I don’t even know you.”

“You’re fucking kidding me. You’re crazy! No wonder Fuyu dropped you like bad habit.”

Peko scrunched up her face with genuine pain, hoping it’d earn some sympathy. “Please. I don’t feel good. I’m not remembering things correctly. Something’s not right with me.”

The girl scoffed. “ _You’re damn right_ something’s not right! Nothing’s been since you were born. You think Fuyu’s sister actually had a shot at leading the Kuzuryu clan? And yet, they still considered me over him because he’s too damn soft from babysitting your childish ass all the goddamn time.”

Heat stung Peko’s cheeks, her mind muddling from embarrassment and an oncoming fever. Young Master’s sister, and the topic who was next in line to lead the Kuzuryu clan—these were things that Peko should know, but the information just wouldn’t solidify in her mind.

The girl flicked some blonde strands over her shoulder. “I know Fuyu already told you this, but I’m gonna tell you again, _just to make sure you understand_. Don’t go near him. Ever. It’s not a joke, he’s actually done with you.”

Being unable to think anymore, Peko relied on the words that poured automatically from her mouth. “I know. I know how worthless I am. And I’m sorry for any trouble I caused your family. You won’t see me again after today. I’m useless, but I’ll ensure at least I do that right.”

Peko stepped past the girl, not knowing if this was really over. The girl didn’t impede her further. Peko sighed, feeling the ghost of responsibility and guilt leave her lips.

The girl called after her. “Oh, and by the way, I hope you were never stupid enough to have feelings for him.”

Peko froze, and the girl continued. “Not only would that be a bad look for you, but it’d be a major fucking inconvenience if my dumbshit brother felt the same. He’s not fit to lead, and I blame—”

Peko’s mind went through all the motions of responding to a threat—flicking her hand to her back, then pulling her sword into a strike straight from the sheath. Her reflexes engaged, and her hand landed on the sword—which she hadn’t brought with her; it shouldn’t be there. 

Peko turned, stirring up a mini hurricane around her, her senses feeling the air around the girl to pinpoint her location. Her sword already vibrated with the satisfying impact of having stricken a skull. But the sound she heard, of glass breaking, was not the one she expected.

Her eyes caught up to her movements, and the girl was dead in front of her. Shards from the display cabinet littered her body, looking like dust settled on a long-dead corpse. It happened so fast that it seemed impossible. She looked around for another explanation, another culprit.

Behind the girl, in the doorway of a dark classroom, a shadow emerged. It floated closer, then took two measured, perfect steps into the light. A boy wearing a dark suit—not the academy’s uniform—cast a shadow on the girl, obscuring the wound that sourced the growing pool of blood beneath her.

The boy’s eyes fell upon the deceased’s body, then pierced into Peko’s.

Peko took a step back. “I didn’t…” Peko stopped. She wanted to claim innocence, but couldn’t be sure she was allowed to.

Her hands loosened around her blade, and it fell to the ground. A trail of something dark followed after its hilt. Now, Peko’s hands stung with the cold air touching the blood that soaked them.

The boy shook his head. “Between the two of us, I don’t think it was me.”

“I’m-“

“Don’t say you’re sorry. This doesn’t end with your repentance.” The boy took a step back, revealing the deceased’s state again. “You wanted this.”

Hot tears stung behind Peko’s eyes. Her throat threatened to close up around her words, making them come out as a croak. “There’s no way I wanted this. I couldn’t, not if she was really Young Master’s sister. It didn’t matter what she said. I was weak.”

“You didn’t want her words to be true. Not a one of them. And for the first time in your life, you did something about it.”

Peko’s eyes went wide, loosening her tears. “What are you talking about? What’s going on here?”

The boy walked over to Peko, and she was frozen in place. “Peko, I just have one question for you. Would you be willing to change the world the way _you_ want? Not ‘Young Master’s’ way, or anyone else’s.” He gestured to the dead body on the floor. “You’ve already proven you have the potential.”

Peko shook her head. “It’s not right—”

“You can’t say that now. I won’t allow you to regress after all the progress you’ve made.”

The world around Peko and the boy sunk beneath the floor, revealing a room of white. The sudden vertigo made Peko want to fall through the floor with it. It was bright, making everything beyond their bubble of reality appear formless.

The boy extended his hand. “If what you truly wanted was good for you, and maybe even good for the people around you, what would you do?”

Peko gripped her fists, taking stock of them while thinking about what to do. She gasped; the cold, slippery feeling of blood was gone. “I guess… I’d make sure it happened. If it’s for the good of everyone, I mean.”

The boy laughed with genuine humor that didn’t seem possible for such a serious voice. “I guess it’s a start. C’mon, let’s go see everyone.”

Not waiting for her hand anymore, the boy took it in his own. He pulled her toward a group of people who were watching them. After spending so long in a stupor, she could practically feel the neurons firing in her brain as she recognized each familiar face. Her gaze stopped as it met Young Master’s face, smiling at her in a way that caused her an ambivalence of guilt and exhilaration.

The boy let Peko’s hand go, and she allowed herself to drift over to Young Master, scanning all her friend’s faces as she went. She stood before him, aching to reach out. But she only managed to ask, “Did you see everything?”

“Yeah.” There was no admonishment or disgust that Peko would expect after having been “rejected” by him, or after everything she’d done. He reached out and held her hand, fulfilling all of her wishes. “I saw how much you’ve grown, and how strong you’ve become. I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you… Y-. Fuyuhiko.”


End file.
